Sub-Saharan Africa loses US$4bn to post-harvest losses

POST-HARVEST grain losses in sub-Saharan Africa are estimated at around US$4 billion a year, according to a World Bank and Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) report.

The lost food, according to the report, titled: 'Missing Food: The Case of Post-Harvest Grain Losses in sub-Saharan Africa', could meet the minimum annual food requirements of at least 48 million people in the region.

A World Bank representative, Mr Waqar Haider, made this known in Accra yesterday at the opening of a sub-regional workshop on post-harvest loss reduction in sub-Saharan Africa.

He said Ghana’s situation was not different from the rest of sub-Saharan Africa, as it lost between 20 and 50 per cent of its fruits, vegetables, roots and tubers and about 20 to 30 per cent of its cereals annually.

He said that was happening while Ghana was still struggling to achieve food security, as it produced only 51 per cent of its cereals needs, 60 per cent of fish requirements, 50 per cent of meat and less than 30 per cent of raw materials needed for agro-based processing.

Mr Haider said food security was imperative if sustainable economic development and poverty alleviation were to be envisaged, adding, 'A country dependent on imports of food grain and staple food is highly vulnerable in today’s volatile international market.'

He indicated that the World Bank and other international institutions were hugely concerned about rising food prices and their impact on the poor, leading to political and social rife.

He said reducing post-harvest losses was a win-win situation for all stakeholders in the food grain value chain, as it put additional quantities to productive uses.

Mr Haider said the World Bank, along with all its development partners, was ready and keen to embark on a programme for the reduction of post-harvest losses and bring dividends to all stakeholders.

For her part, the FAO Assistant Director-General/Regional Representative for Africa, Ms Maria Helena Semedo, said post-harvest loss reduction was a critical key in the quest to promote food security, alleviate poverty, create income- generation opportunities and foster the economic growth of African countries.

'If we agree that sustainable agricultural systems need to be developed to feed nine billion people by 2050, then addressing waste across the entire food chain must be a critical pillar of future national food strategies,' she noted.

She asserted that a common characteristic in Africa was the transition to market-driven systems, with greater reliance on the private sector, and stressed the need for post-harvest loss reduction strategies that provided incentives for all actors in the chain.